Food stamp program to be fully implemented starting July 2024 —DSWD

The Marcos administration’s “Walang Gutom 2027: Food Stamp Program” will be implemented in full-swing by July 2024, following the completion of the program’s six-month pilot implementation, according to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

At the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City, DSWD Undersecretary for Innovations Eduardo Punay said that the pilot implementation of the food stamp program, targeting initial 3,000 families, “will run until mid next year.”

The DSWD official had said earlier that the pilot implementation of the program, funded through a $3-million grant from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), will go full-blast in December across five pilot sites, namely Tondo, Manila; Dapa, Siargao; San Mariano in Isabela; Garchitorena in Camarines Sur; and Parang, Maguindano.

“Now come next year we will have the full run, the full implementation of the program…,” Punay said.

For next year, the DSWD official said the target beneficiaries of the program will be scaled up to 300,000 households from the initial 3,000 during the pilot implementation.

“Second half [2024] is the target implementation because the pilot is expected to be completed in May, and June will be the review. In July will be the implementation of the 'scaled-up' 300,000 beneficiaries… that will require us a P6 billion budget next year and we already met with the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) and they committed to provide for the financial budgetary requirements of the program,” Punay said.

The DSWD official said the scaled-up implementation of the food stamp program will be purely funded through the General Appropriations Act (GAA).

“There is a P1.9-billion allocation under the General Appropriations bill passed by [the House] so we still need P4.1 billion,” he said, adding that the DBM is looking for other funding sources to fill up the budgetary requirements for the program.

The DSWD official said the agency will prioritize 30 to 40 provinces identified by the National Nutrition Council with the highest incidence of malnutrition and hunger.

Under the program, the DSWD will provide electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards that will be loaded with food credits amounting to P3,000 per month to purchase a select list of food commodities from DSWD -registered or -accredited retailers.

In particular, bulk of the food credits shall be allocated to carbohydrate-rich foods such as rice at P1,500, 30% for proteins like meat at P900, and 20% for fruits, vegetables, oil, salt, as well as condiments at P600.

The food stamp Program will run until 2027 and would require a total estimated budget of P40 billion as it targets one million food-poor families or those earning less than P8,000 in a month.

The DSWD will gradually increase the number of beneficiaries from 300,000 in the first year, to another 300,000 in the second year, and 400,000 in the third for a total of one million food-poor household-beneficiaries.

The food stamp program was designated a flagship program of the government by virtue of Executive Order (EO) No. 44 signed earlier this month.

"The DSWD, as the primary government entity responsible for the implementation and management of social welfare development programs in the country, shall be the lead implementing agency of the Food Stamp Program,” read the EO.

During the launching of the food stamp program last month in Dapa, Siargao Island, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. tasked all concerned government agencies to ensure that there would be no anomaly in its implementation.

Marcos said the distribution of the EBT cards not only aims to achieve zero hunger in the Philippines but also ensures that beneficiaries are eating healthy food. —KG, GMA Integrated News